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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29185575">dissolving flesh and melting bone, oh to lie with you alone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDblack/pseuds/KDblack'>KDblack</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Devil May Cry, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Demon/Half-Human Relationships, M/M, True Demon Ending, full demon hitoshura is kind of terrifying, unfortunately dante is into that</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:48:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,065</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29185575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDblack/pseuds/KDblack</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dante was expecting more from the Demi-Fiend’s decision to relinquish his humanity. Some maniacal laughter, maybe. An evil speech. Atrocities carved into the vulnerable flesh of the universe, seeping through dimensions like hot arterial blood. He seems more intent on palling around with the legions of the damned.</p><p>The power to kill capital-G God and all he wants to do is hang out and play-fight. Well, the path of Chaos has always been the path of freedom, or so Dante’s been told.</p><p>(Post-True Demon Ending, Dante seeks out the Demi-Fiend for a chat. Things rapidly spiral out of control.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dante (Devil May Cry)/Hitoshura | The Demifiend</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>dissolving flesh and melting bone, oh to lie with you alone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dante was expecting more from the Demi-Fiend’s decision to relinquish his humanity. Some maniacal laughter, maybe. An evil speech. Atrocities carved into the vulnerable flesh of the universe, seeping through dimensions like hot arterial blood. He seems more intent on palling around with the legions of the damned.</p><p>The power to kill capital-G God and all he wants to do is hang out and play-fight. Well, the path of Chaos has always been the path of freedom, or so Dante’s been told.</p><p>Personally, he’s always found his freedom in a good fight, good food, and good friends, so he can get behind this. Or he would be able to if he could just stop waiting for the other boot to drop. The Demi-Fiend didn’t gather all these lawless monsters to himself, carve open the heart of the Vortex World, and send shockwaves rippling across the multiverse to just stop. Did he?</p><p>Maybe that boot already dropped. Dante’s man enough to admit he can’t actually remember much after the final fight with God. They fought Lucifer, the Demi-Fiend left his humanity by the wayside, and it all goes very patchy. When Dante asks around, as casual as he can, it turns out that none of the other demons remember much, either. Same goes for Raidou, though the devil summoner is much more upset about it than the demons. Dante gets it, kinda. He’s used to weird stuff happening in his head – sometimes Devil Trigger feels less like a power-up and more like becoming a whole different person – but also, they might’ve all fused together for a bit after the big man upstairs went down. If so, it was the most confusing and distressing thing Dante has ever experienced. He’s already hard at work repressing that shit.</p><p>Unfortunately, repressing doesn’t give him any answers. The demons aren’t curious enough to push their master. Raidou’s pale hands shake whenever the subject is brought up. Nobody wants to try leaving without knowing what's going on in that pretty little head. So it falls to Dante to make his way through a world of shade and flickering neon light, searching for the raw, beating heart.</p><p>The being who still calls himself Naoki Kashima sits perched on the smooth, curving arch of what was once a highway. Red eyes flash eerily in the dark. When he speaks, it comes out backed by an atonal buzz. “Hey, Dante.”</p><p>Dante grins. “Hey, yourself. Been waiting long?”</p><p>“That’s a matter of perspective.” A tattooed hand pats the tarmac, or what used to be tarmac, as though trying to coax over a cat. Dante’s always been more of a dog person, but not enough to make a fuss. Anyway, if he hadn’t been offered this excuse to close in, he’d have to make one up, so he goes to sit beside Naoki without complaint.</p><p>Up close, it’s obvious how little Naoki has actually changed. He’s got the same pallid, corpse-white skin under markings which are almost the same shade. He’s still short and slim, built compact and wiry, his hair more flyaway than not. Maybe the air thrums with power around him, making Dante’s eyes itch in their sockets, but that’s been a thing for a while now. Before the battle with Lucifer, at least. Whatever happened to Naoki, it wasn’t fast or clean. It built up slowly on his journey through the Vortex World. The decision to become a full demon, or rather, a true demon, was just the final leap into the unknown.</p><p>Despite everything, he’s still recognizable as the scared kid Dante met in the Third Kalpa. The one whose face was always numb and whose markings shone green instead of red. He’s not so scared anymore, definitely not a kid, but Dante hopes like hell that Naoki remains the same at the core. Otherwise…</p><p>“Most things are,” Dante offers. “Subjectivity’s funny like that.”</p><p>Naoki hums and rests his cheek against his raised knee. There’s no particular expression on his face, but he gives off an aura of stillness now. Serene like the waves that conceal the undertow. “Everything new is old again.”</p><p>“Y’said it backward,” Dante points out. “It’s ‘everything old is new again.’”</p><p>“That too.” Suddenly, those eyes are on him: red as blood, hot as hell, the intensity of them piercing through every defence. Dante can’t quite suppress a shudder. “You’re worried.”</p><p>Damn. “Saw though me already?”</p><p>“You’re not good at hiding your intentions. Your nature isn’t deception. Besides,” Naoki adds pointedly, “you’ve been worrying about me from the beginning.”</p><p>“Why you gotta out me like this?”</p><p> “I can feel your fear, that’s why. Everyone’s afraid of me now, but you’re the only one thinking about putting me down.” He says it calmly, matter-of-fact, with an edge of faint amusement. As though the idea that Dante could kill him is funny. “What does being a demon mean to you, Dante?”</p><p>There’s no pretty way to phrase it and Dante doesn’t bother trying. “Losing everything and laughing all the way down. Violence begetting violence. Entrails and blood piled on top of each other, forever. Real shitty life choices.” Like being given a glimpse of his truest self at the low, low price of literally everything else. It’s always fun, Devil Trigger, but the hangover is hell. “What does it mean to you?”</p><p>Naoki blinks slowly, expressionless. Like a cat just waking up, or a statue slowly grinding to life. Then his face splits open in a sickly, sharp-toothed grin. That smile stretches upward in the shape of a crescent moon, luminous and impossibly wide. Dante freezes in place, human instincts battling demon. Half of him wants to scream and collapse into a shivering wreck; the other half wants to surge forward and sink his teeth into Naoki’s tattooed throat. </p><p>He can’t do both, so he does nothing. Story of his life.</p><p>“But you love it anyway. I know the feeling.”</p><p>Ah, shit, Naoki’s talking. Why won’t those red eyes slip off him, just for a moment? Dante likes the way they burn far, far too much.</p><p>“For me, it’s about freedom.” Naoki thumps his bare chest with one striped fist. “About shedding everyone’s expectations and finally spreading my wings. I spent my whole life doing what other people wanted me to, even after I first changed. Now I’ve shed all of that like an old coat. This is the only time I feel like I’ve truly been myself, you know?”</p><p>Dante knows. He wishes he didn’t. </p><p>“Stop worrying so much. I’m not going to send plagues over the land or go around smashing realities into each other for fun. I probably won’t even kill unless someone wants it or just really ticks me off. Killing is fun, but it’s not what I live for. So, you’re wondering, what now?” Naoki shrugs, still smiling. “One God’s dead, but guys like that don’t go down easy. There’ll be pieces of him scattered all over the place, trying to regain the throne of the world. I could spend forever hunting him down across realities and devouring him alive.” For a moment, he sounds excited. Then the passion fades into something a bit more somber. “But you won’t be around forever, Dante – at least, not as you are now.”</p><p>“Well, that’s not terrifying at all.” Dante clears his throat and tries to will the heat from his cheeks. It’s not really working. In his defence, nobody’s ever put off their grand plan of perma-killing a solipsistic, would-be monotheistic deity for him. Actually, this might be the first time someone looked at their grand plan, then at him, and decided to shelve the plan. It’s a heady feeling. “You could take us with you. You already broke the laws of – everything – once.”</p><p>“I could,” Naoki allows. “But you wouldn’t appreciate it. Lots of melting and screaming. You aren’t ready to get on my level yet, so I need to prioritize.”</p><p>“That’s creepy, kid.” It also implies that Dante is a priority to Naoki, which – look, Dante’s spent his whole life alone or being abandoned, all right? The only people who could ever understand him either didn’t give a shit or were actively trying to murder him. Now, in this world which has already ended, he’s finally found someone who gets the half-demon experience, and they like him. There’s nothing more addicting than a kindred spirit. He’s been trying not to think too hard about that for ages.</p><p>A soft huff that fades into radio static. “Hey, old man, isn’t it time you stopped calling me that? I exist outside of time now. Subjectively speaking, I’ve been around for eternity.”</p><p>Dante’s been trying not to think about that, either. So what if Naoki’s youthful appearance is as false as his own? There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, more of them for Dante than there are for everyone else. Naoki wouldn’t know that part of living with demon blood. After all, he only became a demon after everyone else was dead.</p><p>Naoki’s fingers are on his chin faster than he can react. Dante can whack bullets out of the air and slice raindrops to pieces. None of that matters in the face of what the Demi-Fiend has become. His eyes bore into Dante’s at point-blank range. They are terribly hungry. “Stop thinking that way. You’re allowed to want things, Dante.”</p><p>“Who died and put you in charge?” Dante snaps on reflex. As soon as the words are out, he huffs and rolls his eyes. Right. God did. Man, that’s gonna take some getting used to. “Look, you’re just getting… cravings, all right? Adrenaline, dopamine, stimulation. Whatever you’re feeling, it won’t last.”</p><p>“Like it’s never lasted for you? Never hollowed you out? Never rooted itself in your bones?”</p><p>He shifts, uncomfortably aware of the cool air on his hot skin. “Shut up, we’re talking about you here.”</p><p>Naoki narrows his eyes. "I can literally feel how much you want me. I don't mind. And it's not like we've got anything looming over our heads now. It's over, Dante, or at least it’s over for now. Isn’t it time to stop being afraid of this?”</p><p>“What are you talking about?” Dante asks, like he doesn’t already know. Memories well up: younger days, when he didn’t know how to control his full strength yet – when he didn’t understand why he should – and then again, every time he’s ever let his guard down. Holding people close has never worked out for him. His grip is too tight, his blood too hot. When he seals his mouth to someone else’s, it burns. </p><p>It’s safer to love people from a distance. He puts them in the hospital when he tries to close that gap. Or worse, destroys them without even realizing it.</p><p>The hand on his chin firms and tilts his face downward. “I’m saying that it’s all right. I know who you are, Dante, you cocky, irreverent, terrified asshole. Now I want to know what you are. Carve it into my bones.” That awful, beautiful smile returns. “You can do whatever you want to me if you let me do whatever I want to you.”</p><p>Dante only realizes he’s dug his nails into his thighs when the pain hits. It’s sweeter than it should be. If he were a bit younger – a bit less controlled – it would tip him over the edge. He’s hanging on with tooth and claw as is. “Why do you think I don’t fuck humans? That’s how people die!” </p><p>The Demi-Fiend’s eyes shine with a terrible light. Hard. Joyous. Amused. “The only human here is you,” he purrs. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything permanent. You’re mine, after all.”</p><p><i>You’re mine.</i> Those words settle around Dante’s neck like a collar. For a moment, he can’t breathe. The truth to them stings. </p><p>If he’d known things would turn out like this when he offered his services to Naoki –  </p><p>He would’ve done exactly the same thing, damn it. Because Naoki is equal parts searing light and calm darkness, a demon tempered by experiences he shouldn’t still carry, the only man to give up his humanity in exchange for himself. </p><p>Because those piercing, inhuman eyes are happy.</p><p>“All right,” Dante breathes and unclenches his hands. They come away sticky with blood. Doesn’t matter. The furrows carved into his leg are already healing. “Let’s rock.”</p><p>Naoki kisses him into Devil Trigger.</p>
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